Musings on seeing God's loving sovereign hand in all of my life as wife, mom, grandmother, sister and friend. Thoughts on finding joy in God and beauty in all aspects of my life including MCS, gardening, homemaking, chronic illness and numerous food allergies.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

I have been toying with beginning a blog for over two years and decided to jump in and get wet. Since I am an all or none sort of person I don't tend to wade in or just dip my toe into the water. I will either walk away or fully immerse. So time will show if I am fully in neck deep or distracted away from the edge of the water to pursue something else.Why "Green Leaf in Drought"Jeremiah 17:8 "He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”God moved us to the Arizona desert a few years ago from Washington State. I figured when we moved here my days of gardening and growing pretty things were over other than desert plants. Soon after moving here we made acquaintances of a couple avid gardeners and were given tours of their yards and I saw how wrong I was in my thinking! There are adjustments that need to be made to work with the limitations of poor soil and heat. With adapting growing seasons, bringing in good soils and compost, and proper irrigation we have successfully been able to raise many garden crops and harvest bountifully and have enough to share with others.I immediately began to see the spiritual implications of growth and fruitfulness that comes from being connected to the life-giving streams of water. God began the process of exposing the poor soils in my own heart, the weeds of sin and pride and the dryness when I did not daily allow Him to water my soul.Living in a desert doesn't mean dry and dead but can mean being more alive. It doesn't matter where I dwell, the climate or circumstances but where am I going to draw my water - from the life giving stream of Jesus Christ or the parched empty cistern of self?John 4: 7-15 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”8(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”So bear with the varied musings of a desert dweller and join me for glimpses of my journey through the life God has sovereignly ordained.